He Became King Sejong’s Lifelong Prime Minister - Chapter 156

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Concealing One’s True Intentions (1)

The situation has become seriously complicated.

Where exactly did things go wrong?

Has this damned Ming Dynasty finally gone insane?

It would be maddening enough if they asked us to send another collateral royal family member… but what, the Crown Prince?

So they’re telling us to bring young Crown Prince Munjong all the way to Beijing.

Well, when you think about it, this isn’t entirely unprecedented by current standards…

During Lee Seong-gye’s reign as king, Lee Bang-won, who was effectively the second-in-command among the princes, had gone to Ming Dynasty and returned.

Even during Lee Bang-won’s reign as king, Prince Yangnyeong, who was the Crown Prince at the time, had gone to Ming Dynasty and returned.

So Crown Prince Munjong being summoned to Ming Dynasty isn’t particularly new or something that absolutely shouldn’t happen.

The important thing is that the responsibility our diplomatic mission will bear has become enormously greater.

While I was standing there dazed, confronted by this bewildering fact, someone approached me and immediately started shouting.

“Secretary!”

“Yes, Lord Jijungchubusa.”

“What are you doing right now? We must escort His Highness the Crown Prince for the imperial audience (going to Ming Dynasty to meet the Emperor and pay respects), so there must not be even the slightest gap in our preparations… Yet here you are, a Secretary no less, spacing out during work hours. My goodness, in my time, such a thing was unimaginable. This is all because my younger brother is too soft, failing to properly discipline the officials. Oh dear, what will become of Joseon in the future…”

Jijungchubusa is an honorary position created to show respect to someone of ministerial rank who doesn’t have a specific post.

And the person hastily appointed to that position, who is now demonstrating the full power of being a traditionalist before me, is Heo Ju, the supreme traditionalist who even makes the traditionalist Heo Jo stick out his tongue in amazement.

The eldest son is Heo Ju, but since he suffered a stroke, his younger brother Heo Jo took over the ancestral rites, and due to unavoidable circumstances, he had to slightly violate the ritual protocols.

When Heo Ju learned of this, he mercilessly scolded his younger brother, calling him a disgrace to the family…

According to records, Minister Heo Jo had to beg for forgiveness outside the gate for three days before finally receiving pardon.

Being such a traditionalist, he was extremely well-versed in protocols, which is why King Sejong specially brought him as the protocol officer for this New Year’s diplomatic mission.

“Even I, afflicted with stroke, have come out with my inconvenient body to work, yet here’s a young man not even in his mid-twenties losing focus during work hours?”

“I apologize, my lord.”

“Well, were you at least listening to what I was saying?”

“Weren’t you saying that among the court robes bestowed by Ming Dynasty when Prince Yangnyeong went for the imperial audience, the hat in particular could be problematic?”

Even in the 21st Century, in places where protocol is observed, not even the smallest breach of etiquette can be tolerated.

When a high-ranking official visits a Military Unit, if even one soldier honestly answers ‘We have these hardships’ instead of ‘Military life is wonderful,’ the general immediately begins a public dressing-down.

Even when arranging seating in the dining hall, if you don’t seat the high-ranking officials in proper order, it’s common for the unit commander to face severe consequences.

Moreover, in the East Asia cultural sphere dominated by Confucianism, where observing etiquette is considered more important than human life, the importance of protocol is beyond words.

If there’s even the slightest mistake here, while it might not break relations between Joseon and Ming Dynasty, several people’s heads could literally roll.

“That’s right, when His Highness the Prince was Crown Prince, the minister in charge of official duties for the New Year’s mission wore the same hat as Prince Yangnyeong, who was Crown Prince at the time.”

There’s a saying that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but honestly, that’s just unrealistic idealism.

Because all people living in human society have the instinct to judge others by their appearance.

Moreover, on the diplomatic stage where protocol is strictly applied, there are rigid rules about wearing different attire according to one’s status.

In such a Confucian cultural sphere, having two people of different ranks within the New Year’s mission wear the same ‘hat’ is an extremely serious problem.

“Ming Dynasty surely knows well that this is wrong according to protocol.”

Heo Ju, who had been furious just moments ago, changed his attitude and nodded in agreement.

“So if we don’t wear the ceremonial robes Ming Dynasty has given us this time, those Ming bastards will blow this up into a serious issue to find fault with us. And His Imperial Majesty will severely reprimand the young Crown Prince.”

“The reason they specifically included Crown Prince in this New Year’s mission for the court audience is, on the surface, that as a vassal Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty, he should pay tribute at least once. But in reality, they want to hear what Joseon’s intention was in conquering the Jurchen Territory beyond Pajeogan, and to judge whether Joseon will betray Ming or not, trying to tame us to their liking.”

“They also know the protocol is wrong, but seeing how they haven’t said anything about Crown Prince’s hat until now… they’re definitely planning to find fault when they call Crown Prince before them during this court audience.”

A method frequently used by high-ranking officials, especially those with personality disorders, is to relieve their stress by constantly harassing others over ‘extremely trivial issues.’

For example, when there’s a subordinate who makes the mistake of setting the Report font size to 11pt instead of the required 10pt…

They say seeing the font size set to 11pt, the person must either be very stupid or have lost their mind.

They get furious asking what work can be done with such a subordinate, then even launch into nostalgia about the old days, asking how they can swallow food after committing such an act.

When the reprimanded subordinate becomes tearful, then they say it’s because the supervisor above the subordinate provided poor education.

This time they call the supervisor and reprimand them identically in front of the subordinate.

The Ming Emperor can be seen as the same type of person.

No, to put it more bluntly, he wants to see Joseon trembling in fear, unable to dare resist when treated this way.

But we must not give the Ming Dynasty bastards any excuse to find fault with us from the beginning.

“So you’re saying that although it goes against Joseon’s etiquette, to avoid giving them any excuse to find fault, we should wear the Ceremonial Dress they bestowed upon us?”

“Yes, that’s correct. And we must show the Ming Dynasty’s Ministry of Rites that this fact makes us very uncomfortable, and express our regret that it might not look good in His Imperial Majesty’s eyes.”

“That’s a wise thought.”

The Joseon that we commonly think of as unconditionally bowing and scraping to the Ming Dynasty only appeared after King Jungjong’s coup.

Until then, Joseon was in a relationship where it was being tamed – sometimes getting extorted by the Ming Dynasty, and other times receiving plenty of Royal Gifts.

Having gone through all these processes, how could we possibly like the Ming Dynasty?

Everyone inwardly curses them out with all sorts of profanity, badmouthing them this way and that.

But we’re forced to endure it because they have a large population and strong military power.

It’s just like how we inwardly beat up our old-fashioned Workplace boss hundreds or thousands of times until their nose bleeds profusely, but when we actually face them, we smile and treat them politely.

“It would be best to follow the same etiquette that Prince Yangnyeong used when he paid his respects.”

“Thanks to you, my worries have been greatly reduced. Then let’s proceed with that etiquette. But the really important issue is what justification we’ll use to legitimize the subjugation of the Jurchen Tribes, isn’t it?”

One of the truly annoying problems with those Ming Dynasty bastards is that they think everyone in the world is their subordinate.

No, to be more precise, they live with such delusions.

Even Vietnam, which their dominance doesn’t reach at all, they naturally considered a vassal state, saying “How dare they try to become independent?” and sent a large army…

During the Qing Dynasty era, they grabbed very high-ranking officials sent by the East India Company and the British Foreign Office and made a fuss saying they were all vassals of the Qing Dynasty and must perform the Three Kneelings and Nine Prostrations.

In that regard, they also considered all Jurchen Tribes as their subordinates.

So they gave nominal positions to powerful Jurchen tribal chiefs and insisted they were their vassals.

The nominal position that the Ming Dynasty gave to Lee Man-ju, whom Joseon subjugated this time, is ‘Jianzhou Wei Commander.’

A Commander position is nothing more than a worthless nominal Official Position that even Posol wouldn’t acknowledge in the Ming Dynasty, but its rank is actually 3rd grade.

What this fact implies is that they could make a fuss saying Joseon subjugated a very damn high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty without reason.

“If we say that Lee Man-ju dared to cross Joseon’s National Border to plunder, so we punished him, that’s essentially the end of it. It’s not something to think about in a complicated way.”

Even if Lee Man-ju is treated as a damn high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty, that’s just nominal treatment.

In reality, Lee Man-ju is nothing more than a hostile race equivalent to a human-type monster in online game terms.

So why should we need to make lengthy excuses for subjugating such a fellow?

In cases like this, the longer the excuses become, the more material we’d be providing for them to find fault with.

“However, it could become troublesome if they take issue with Joseon’s territorial expansion northward. How about we tell just one lie?”

“You mean deceive the Ming Court? That won’t be easy.”

“I’m not suggesting we tell an obvious lie.”

The important thing about lying is to do it at the most crucial moment, in a way that the person being deceived won’t notice.

“We say we heard testimony that Lee Man-ju joined hands with Northern Yuan and unified part of Jianzhou Wei to attack Datong (Ming’s northern border region) and Joseon’s Pyeongan Province and Hamgyeong Province.”

From Ming’s perspective, there’s no way to verify whether this rumor is true or false.

However, they know well that Northern Yuan (Yuan Dynasty) are certainly the type who would do such things and more.

Even if they capture Jurchen Tribes living in the Pajeogan river basin and hear their testimony, when Jurchen and Joseon accounts conflict, the important question is whom they would believe.

They would never believe the words of Jurchen Tribes who are close to Northern Yuan.

“This should be sufficient to pull the wool over their eyes. For the rest, let’s discuss it again when Right State Councilor Choi Yun-deok, who has been selected as Deputy Envoy (who becomes the chief responsible officer in this case) for this New Year Diplomatic Mission, returns.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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